Vivian Cheruiyot wins Frankfurt Marathon

Vivian Cheruiyot from Kenya finishes the Marathon as fastest woman in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany on October 29, 2017. PHOTO | THOMAS FREY |

What you need to know:

  • Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot on Sunday won the Frankfurt Marathon in a time of 2hours 23 minutes 35 seconds.
  • It was the 34-year-old's first full marathon victory since she moved from the track.

Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot on Sunday won the Frankfurt Marathon in a time of 2hours 23 minutes 35 seconds.

It was the 34-year-old's first full marathon victory since she moved from the track, lowering her personal best set in London.

Ethiopia's Shura Tola (2:05:50) led his country mates in a 1-2-3 finish in the men's race. Kenyan men suffered in the race with Martin Kosgey finishing fourth.

Cheruiyot was the most successful woman runner and first Olympic champion ever to stand on the start line of the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, having made her marathon debut with 2:23:50 for fourth place in London this April.

With the pace setters doing a great job as they were tasked to run 1:10:00 by halfway to be in the bracket of smashing the course record, Cheruiyot ran her own race, passing 10km in 33:25.

At halfway, Cheruiyot running in a big group of pace setters clocked 70:07 and she looked strong going on to pass the 25km in 1:23:20 despite the windy conditions.

She was 2:30 minutes ahead of a group of five, passing the 30km mark in 1:40:14, slightly inside the course record but she was out of gas, slowing down at 35km in a split time of 1:40:14 to make it impossible for her to break the course record.

However, she went on to make history by winning the race in style by obliterating her Personal Best time of 2:23:50 she ran in London on her debut, lowering it by 25 seconds.